Hollow
by RosalineC
Summary: "Not with a bang but a whimper" -T.S. Elliot
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I'm too tired to be witty. I just don't own Castle okay?**

**A/N: Um... apparently this is what happens when you mix no sleep, stress, and coffee... I should be doing my final project for school but this happened instead.**

**~Rose**

* * *

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the shadow

-"The Hollow Men" T.S. Elliot

* * *

The sheets wrapped around her so tightly she could barely breathe smelled purely of him. She sucked in a deep breath, inhaling the all too familiar scent.

The wind outside was blowing the trees so hard that they were brushing against the windows and casting eerie shadows against the wall of the lamp-lit bedroom. Kate could hear someone walking around the loft which was strange since both Martha and Alexis were at the Hamptons.

Her cop instincts told her something was wrong; there must be someone in the loft. Reaching over and grabbing her gun out of the bedside table drawer she quietly got out of bed and crept into the living room.

She could barely see in the shadows except for the faint outline of a man who was facing away from her. Raising her gun and mentally preparing herself for whatever she needed to do, he slowly turned around.

"Rick," she breathed as his familiar blue eyes fell upon hers. She was in his arms almost immediately and then he was kissing her. His lips trailed along her jawbone and up to her ear before making their way back to her lips. "Rick, I love you."

His eyes got wider and then his smile spread. The joy at finally hearing her say those long awaited words couldn't be kept off his face. He couldn't help it; his eyes filled with tears as he caressed her cheek with his palm. "I love you Kate. I love you so much."

She was crying now too. "Always."

They held each other for what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours—but never long enough—before they finally let go.

Kate closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her, but the kiss never came. She felt the darkness creeping up on her and the hollowness return.

The memories came flooding back as she remembered where she was. She wasn't in Rick's loft. He wasn't there with her.

He was dead.

She didn't tell him how much she loved him.

She never got the chance.

The sheets around her weren't from Rick's bedroom—they were from the hospital.

He had died trying to save her but it didn't work anyways. Kate Beckett struggled to take her final breath with the whimper of his name on her lips.

She was hollow.

He was gone.

Then, so was she.

* * *

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

-"The Hollow Men" T.S. Elliot

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, no clue where that came from. I'm sorry...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Pretty sure they wouldve fired me by now...**

**A/N: So I had no intention of writing a second part to this but it just wouldnt leave me alone. Besides, after I did some emotional damage and almost killed someone via choking on Mac and Cheese, I think I owe you guys another chapter.**

**Also, please note I think this would _never_ happen, nor would I want it too.**

** ~Rose**

* * *

The eyes are not here

There are no eyes here

In this valley of dying stars

In this hollow valley

This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

-"The Hollow Men" T.S. Elliot

* * *

Hollow. Thats what the boys were: hollow.

Only the day before they had been laughing and teasing Castle and Beckett. Neither Ryan nor Esposito had known Castle and Beckett were a couple - at least they didnt until they walked in on them making out in the observation room. They had seemed so happy.

And now they were gone.

Ryan had been the one who had called Beckett saying they had a drop on their suspect. Beckett and Castle had met them there and the four of them ventured into the abandonned warehouse.

They split into pairs and went off to find their perp. Beckett and Castle found him first.

"Put down the gun Andrews," Kate demanded. He merely smiled at her and pointed it straight at her chest. Kate thought she was over her PTSD, but he she stood, proof that she was wrong. She couldnt breathe. She couldnt think. The next thing she knew Castle was shoving her out of the way as Miles Andrews pulled the trigger. Castle slumped down to the ground and she didn't even hesitate before she shot Andrews. She barely even paused to take a breath before rushing over to him.

He was already gone. There would be no final words. No "I love you"s exchanged. She would never get the chance to tell him she loved him.

"Im so sorry Rick," she cried over his motionless body. "It should have been me; Im the one who froze up when the gun was pointed at me. It should have been me."

It was then that Andrews accomplice entered the room with a knife.

There's almost a sick twisted sense of irony to the way Kate Beckett died: stabbed in the same place her mother was.

She was barely hanging on when the boys got there. They called the ambulance immediately but she died as soon as she got to the hospital. Hollow. Ryan and Esposito had just lost two partners. They were hollow.

* * *

**The End (I promise I'll write something lighter next time)**


End file.
